The Time Bubble

When I asked Ollie what he wanted for his birthday back in July, he had no hesitation in telling me - a party! He also knew exactly what he wanted, having attended a party at the bowling alley for a classmate a few months ago - the exact same thing. I think Bicester Bowl is very underrated. It's great value for money to bowl there compared to the bigger bowling centres you have to travel out of town for. Not only that, you don't get ripped off for food and drink when you are in there. The prices are very reasonable compared to what you would pay in a cinema, for example. So, what about parties for kids? Well, for £8 per child, you get a game of bowling, a meal and an ice cream. Knowing that a lot of people would be on holiday, and wanting a round number of kids (divisible by six), we decided that 12 would be a good number to invite. Why does it have to be divisible by six? Well it doesn't have to be, but it just makes more sense that way as you can have six people on a ...

As you may recall, last month I did my first ever presenting job alongside BBQ champion Andy Annat. The videos are now available to view, and are well worth watching. What was this all about? Well here's a little taster of a picture to whet your appetite: I think I've come across fairly well - I was worried I might sound like an idiot or look excessively fat, but I don't think I've come off to badly on either front but I'll allow you to be the judge of that. There's are some fantastic barbecuing tips in here - I certainly learned a few new things on the day of the filming. So, settle back with a a glass of red and enjoy watching Bicester Blogger - live on TV! Here are the links: Belly Ribs:  http://youtu.be/0gm7sgvpn_k Collar Steaks:  http://youtu.be/H8SGTnF8j24 Loin Steaks:  http://youtu.be/7is7JQXOI_4 Pork Collar:  http://youtu.be/BTxnoTTNsWM Pork Tenderloin:  http://youtu.be/tFcfE5EzT_c Foolproof Ways To Light The Barbecue...

So - we are back from our two weeks in Great Yarmouth. How was it? Well, pretty good, all things considered. When I say that I'm referring mostly to things over which we had no control, predominantly the weather. It is a source of great frustration to me that none of my UK holidays in approximately the past 30 years has ever coincided with the few weeks of hot weather we get each year (if we're lucky). Following many weeks of fine and warm weather things turned distinctly chilly during August. In fact things got so cold during the second week of our holiday that we were frequently turning the fire on in our caravan during the evening. Fortunately despite the chill, it didn't rain that much. Not compared to some previous disasters I recall e.g. Lyme Regis 1983 when an entire month's rainfall fell on the day we were attempting to pitch the tent and Pontins 1993, a Monday to Friday job spent almost entirely in the arcade due to the unrelenting rain. Of course, on the ...

Yes, here we are in Alan Partridge land but haven't managed to find North Norfolk Digital on the radio yet! We are staying at Haven Seashore holiday park in Great Yarmouth and very nice it is too. Despite my many travels I have never had a holiday in this part of the world before. The closest I have been was back in my old Nielsen days when I had two clients I used to visit here, presenting sales data on bog cleaner to Jeyes in Thetford, and several jollies in Bury St Edmunds, home of Greene King brewery. I'd heard good things about this park from friends at school, so rather than our usual trek to the South West, we went east this year. The great thing about this route is that it's A roads all the way - I hate motorways. We made it here in 3 hours, via Milton Keynes, Bedford, Cambridge and Norwich. Very impressed by the park - clean, welcoming and friendly and a spotless caravan. Our first outing on Monday afternoon was to Asda to do a big shop, then we checked out the p...

So far this summer, the weather has played pretty fair. If you’re the parents of young children this is good news – there is so much more you can do with your days when you can spend them outside. However, the inevitable happened today as we were greeted by a summer downpour putting an end to outdoor play for the time being. As always, back indoors, one of the first things the kids asked for was to have the TV on. Inwardly groaning at the thought of yet another afternoon in front of CBeebies (there have been many over the past 6+ years) I decided it was time we broadened our horizons. My kids are six and four now which is getting a bit old for the likes of Mr Tumble and his antics, so I suggested we have a look through the Freeview channels to see if there was anything new to watch. The line-up of channels doesn't seem to have changed much in recent years, but I was pleased to discover that there’s a new kid on the block by the name of “Pop”. We caught the last few minutes of...